Monday, February 25, 2008

Hallelujah II!

I have to work harder now because the people out there—their main critique is giving the score. I will score them to death right now. They are going to hear the score every four seconds.... It will be like: ‘No score in the game—pitch outside ball one. No score, 1-0 count

Phew! I don't have to sit in the care for 45 minutes and 3 innings, or until Mike Bacsik gives up another homer to find out. (Though the advertisers loved that, no doubt.)

More good stuff:

[I]ts something (telling the score) that we all must be conscious of. We (broadcasters) get to talking about other things. And you know the score, but you get out of the habit of saying (this batter) is a right handed hitter. Everyone knows that Ryan Zimmerman is a right handed hitter. But, some person that tunes in that does not know our team or is a new fan—doesn’t know right-left or whatever. So, there are really times you must remember its radio and there is no graphic on the screen with the score. In fact, the only people who don’t complain are the folks with XM (Satellite Radio) because if they are near their receiver—it constantly has the score as soon as they click into the game on the dial....

Its a lot of words, and we do tend to get away from it. I try to do it (describe the detail) the very first time a player comes up or appears in the game, in the lineup. The more information the better, off the bat. Some people don’t like that. They would rather hear how blue the sky is. How blue the seats are. How green the grass is. They do not wish to hear numbers. They want to hear if the guy is tall and thin, or big and bulky. Bottom line, you are never going to please everyone. So, you have to find a happy medium to get through all of that.

Some old-time broadcaster -- Red Barber, Vin Scully, Mel Allen or someone of that era -- said that he put an egg timer in front of him so as to remind him to give the score every time he had to flip it over.

Off-topic but for the record, i agree with the Deadspin commenters about their Nationals preview. Needs more Needham. Or go a whole other direction and have SBF write it next year. Wouldn't that be fun?

I broke in as a baseball fan listening to him broadcast Orioles games and was drawn in because he educates the listener. He doesn't just blurt out the batter and the count like Bob Uecker. He explains what is happening and why.

Sometimes he is wrong, but most times he gives you an appreciation for the strategy that goes into the game, even if it is the strategy of the "old heads". I don't think he is up on most modern statistics, but since he broadcasts Giants games I can't say with much confidence one way or the other.

No matter what, Jon Miller is my desert island baseball broadcaster. I could definitely live a happy life on some Caribbean desert island with an XM receiver stuck on Giants games and a bottle of rum.

Charlie Slowes would be the alarm clock that rattles me awake each morning out of a blissful slumber.

Slowes and Jageler are awful, going on and on about 1970's TV shows or breakfast cereal or "a NEW CAR!"Yes, Charlie, give us the score, and if the game doesn't hold your attention, at least talk about baseball.